This morning (4am) I got up and coaxed Nuggie out of the pouch so I could see her belly. I have been watching every day for signs the joey(s) are coming out. We saw a tail last week. Anyway, there was a joey hanging out of her pouch with just the head stuck in. I turned my back for a minute and the next thing I know, the joey is laying on the shelf in the cage and Mom took off for a drink of water. She then came back and got in the pouch. I made her come back out of her pouch and attend to her joey.
I watched her for a minute and couldn't tell if she was licking it, trying to get it back in her pouch or trying to eat it. I couldn't stand to watch just in case, so I went a got my coffee so I could go to work. When I came back to the cage, Mom was in the pouch, the joey was up on the side of the cage trying to get into the pouch. I helped her a little hoping she would find Mom's pouch and all would be well.
I came home from work today and coaxed her back out of the pouch for a minute with a cricket, and sure enough, it looks like the joey is right back in the pouch. I couldn't see tails, legs or anything. But this morning I did manage to get a picture of the joey on the self. The joey looks a little young to me to be OOP. What do you think. This is all new to me. I just hope Nuggie and Augie make good parents.
Re: A Joey - too young????
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#20147 04/20/0406:14 PM04/20/0406:14 PM
Yes, I'd say this little one is just a little young to be oop already. The fur should be showing just a bit more.. so its tail would look black instead of gray... and you can see the black stripe and a little fur growing in on its back as well. Poor baby. Is it back in with mom? If mom is still attending to baby, it's probably ok... just fell off when mom went down for a drink.
I hope all will be well!!
Re: A Joey - too young????
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#20148 04/20/0406:15 PM04/20/0406:15 PM
Yes you are right the joey should not be wandering. Please keep a close eye tonight. Feed the mom extra mealworms - about 10-15 a day. Is she a first time mom? Was the joey cold or crying?
When I got home from work this afternoon, I coaxed Mom out with a cricket. She gets crickets and a grasshopper every day along with mealworms. When she came out of the pouch, I saw that the joey was back in the pouch totally. So that worked out ok, so far.
Yes, she is a first time mom. I am glad the baby is back. Thanks for all the input.
Re: A Joey - too young????
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#20150 04/21/0402:41 AM04/21/0402:41 AM
What kind of diet are you feeding besides the mealies and grasshoppers?
Baby is too young to be oop. The body and tail are fairly slick. Baby should stay in pouch for perhaps another week to 10 days to develope more. He does not appear to have much body fat so will chill quickly if left out for long by himself.
The joey is still in Mom's pouch as of this morning. Looks like maybe everything is going to be ok for now. The joey was not out for long at all and was not crying or anything.
As for diet, they get BML, fruit, veggies, yogurt covered raisens, can-o-crickets, can-o-grasshoppers and live mealworms daily along with fresh water.
Re: A Joey - too young????
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#20152 04/21/0410:22 AM04/21/0410:22 AM
Maybe this is one of those incidents where the baby was just large and came out and got left. Mom may not have known what to do at that point, being inexperienced. Lets Hope for the best. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/littleglider.gif" alt="" />